A/N: Last chapter …..

Brennan closed the Velcro flap on Christine's Minnie Mouse lunchbox and ran her hand over it. "What did you put in there anyway?"

"Her favorite strawberry jelly and butter sandwich, a cut up apple, a handful of pretzels, a cookie…or two…and milk money."

"Ha softie Bones, putting most of her favorites in one lunch…"

"Well it's her first day of kindergarten …..I'll pack the healthy stuff tomorrow…"

Booth nodded and got the ingredients for one of Christine's favorite breakfasts.

"You're not much better, you're making her scrambled eggs with cheese and tomatoes, her favorite 'daddy breakfast' besides her birthday pancakes…."

"It's mine too…"

"Yes, but you don't like your toast to be cut into butterflies with a cookie cutter." Booth just shrugged.

Brennan laughed and kissed his cheek, "I'm going to get her up. " Booth nodded and started cracking eggs.

Brennan stood next to Christine's bed and watched her sleep a few minutes before waking her. "Time to get up sweetheart." Christine rolled towards Brennan, but her eyes remained closed. "You don't want to be late on your first day of school; besides daddy is making you scrambled eggs with cheese and tomatoes. Plus I saw him get the butterfly cookie cutter out."

Christine's eyes slowly opened, "hi mommy."

"Hi Sweetheart. Did you sleep well?"

"Uh-huh."

"That's good are you excited for your first day of kindergarten?"

"No."

"Why not?"

Christine shrugged her shoulders and started picking at a thread on her blanket. Brennan smiled and picked Christine up hugging her. "You're going to have a lot of fun. I love you now let's go downstairs and have breakfast with daddy before it gets cold." Brennan kissed the top of Christine's head and stood her on the floor and watched her walk turtle slow to the door and down the hall and stairs.

Booth smiled as Christine came into the kitchen. "Hey noodle, are you ready for your first day?"

"I guess. You and mommy are picking me up right?"

"Yep, your mom and I will be outside in the pickup line as soon as the bell rings. You remember where the pickup line is for your class is don't you?"

"Yep by the flagpole."

"Yes. Remember don't ever leave with anyone other than me or your mom, Angela, Hodgins, or Grandpa."

"I know. If someone else tells me to go with them I need to run away and tell a teacher."

"Very good Christine."

"Daddy what if you forget?"

"What if I forget what?"

"To pick me up…"

"Daddy and I won't forget to pick you up Christine."

"You did last week and when they called you didn't answer. Daddy didn't either! Grandpa finally picked me up, we had to wait at his house while the fixed the TV!" Christine pouted. Brennan sighed and knelt down, taking both of Christine's hands in hers.

"Sweetheart, I didn't forget to pick you up. I just forgot that day camp was closing early…"

"But you didn't answer your phone when they called you!"

"I know. I was in limbo and my phone doesn't get service down there."

"Fix it."

"I would if I could, but I can't." Brennan hugged Christine.

"I was scared..."

"I was too, when I saw all the missed calls and messages when I came upstairs. I gave your new school Cam's number so from now on if daddy or I don't answer they can call her and she'll find us. Angela or Hodgins will pick you and Michael up for us sometimes too if we need to work late, okay?"

"Okay." Brennan hugged Christine and chuckled at Booth who was behind them."Christine, look at what your dad did." Booth had taken three of his index cards and taped them together writing 'pick Christine up at 3:00 'as big as he could and then taped them to his suit. Christine laughed. "See now I won't forget. Neither will your mom. "

"Okay."

Booth turned and picked up Christine's plate." go sit down and try your eggs; if they're too cold I'll make you some more."

"Okay." Christine went to the table and dug into the scrambled eggs that were cool, but not too cool. An hour later they were all ready and loaded into the SUV and on their way to drop Christine at school. They were half way there when Booth looked in the rearview mirror and noticed the tears silently flowing down Christine's cheeks; he nudged Brennan she turned in her seat. "What's wrong Christine?"

"I don't wanna go to school!"

"Aw sweetheart, why not?"

"I don't know anybody! Michael is in another class and I won't see you and daddy anymore!"

"Baby, some of your fiends will be there, not all of them will, but you'll make more-"

"Noodle, I'll bet you an ice cream sundae and a past your bedtime viewing of Cinderella on Saturday night that you'll have at least one new friend by Friday."

"Okay."

"Michael is in second grade he's down the hall; you'll see him at lunch and recess. He wasn't at daycare with you last year…."

"I know and I didn't like it!"

Brennan chuckled, "Aw sweetheart I know, but it won't be bad. And you know what?"

"What?"

"There will be some days that you won't have school, but daddy and I will have to work or you'll get out of school early and you can come to the lab, we'll go out to lunch or something."

"Today?"

"No, in a few months, before Christmas."

"Oh okay."

Brennan fished a Kleenex out of the console and handed it to Christine. "Blow your nose and wipe your face. We're almost to school."

"Okay."

"Love you sweetheart."

'Love you noodle."

"Love you too mommy Daddy."

Five minutes later Christine's tears were dry and she was holding onto Booth and Brennan's hands as they helped her find her classroom and get things organized. Brennan made Booth wait until the last bell before they left the school. "Bones are you okay?"

"Yes."

Booth pulled Brennan closer and kissed the top of her head before they got in the SUV and headed to the lab. "Booth you missed the turn for the lab! This takes you to the Mall."

"Um-hum." He smiled; "we're not going to the lab or the Hoover right now. We're going to go to our favorite coffee cart to have a cup of coffee and split one of those gigantic cinnamon rolls then we're just going spend a little time getting used to the fact that we just sent our little girl off to kindergarten… I told Cam and Hacker that we'd be at least a half hour late. they don't mind." Booth took the sign he'd taped to himself off and stuck it to the dash. Brennan just merely nodded and let Booth take them to the Mall.

Brennan headed to what had be became known over the years as their bench while Booth got in line for their coffee and cinnamon roll. Booth returned a few minutes later with a cinnamon and sugar incrusted roll that barely fit on the biodegradable desert plate under it, two forks a handful of napkins, plus their coffee. Brennan grabbed the tray holding the two large coffees and waited for Booth to sit down. "I think they've gotten bigger."

"Yeah. Maggie just took them out of the oven." Brennan nodded and took the fork Booth handed to her digging in."I forgot how good these are!" Booth smiled and took his own bite.

"I hope Christine is okay, she didn't even look up when we left."

"She's fine Bones. She was just distracted with her school supply kit."

"It doesn't seem like she should be old enough for kindergarten."

"I know."

"It was easier to leave her this time now that she isn't so dependent on us, but it was still hard." Booth put his arm around Brennan and rubbed her back. "Bones, it's hard to watch your kids grow up. Parker is a senior in high school for crying out loud!"

"That doesn't seem possible either. I still remember when you gave him that robot Zach built at Sid's, he was so small then. Now he's taller than I am and wanting me to proofread his college acceptance essays."

"You know I still have that robot, I should see if it still works and give it to Christine. Thankfully Rebecca is letting Parker finish school in the States so he can go to Syracuse like he's wanted to forever."

"Because you went there."

"Yep. Let's go for a walk before we go back."

"Okay." Booth stood up pulling Brennan with him, dumping the empty plate in the trash.

"Remember that time Christine put the lab on lockdown?"

"Yes, that was not fun. Lockdown with her wouldn't have been bad, but the stomach flu on top of it, that was bad."

"I didn't think the sensors were that sensitive."

"We didn't either; thankfully Cam was able to get it lifted quickly so we could take her home."

"Yeah. It took a while to get Christine to go back to the lab after that. She was afraid that going through the doors would set the alarms off."

"I felt so bad for her, she loves it so much."

"I'm surprised Cam didn't ban her like she did when she was a baby."

"It helped that she'd had been out with the flu a few days before."

"Yeah. You ready to head to the lab?"

"Yeah."

"Bones, Christine is fine."

"I know but I'm not! I can't help think maybe we are making a mistake by not having her tested to see if she'd be able to skip kindergarten. She's above average in all areas academically, it's just her social skills aren't there yet. I think a lot of it has to do with her above average intelligence, she gets bored and closes in on herself."

"I know let's wait a week or two and see. We can always look into getting her tested later."

"I know I just don't want her hating school for the rest of her life because of kindergarten!"

Booth chuckled and opened Brennan's door. "She won't hate school for the rest of her life because of kindergarten…."

"You don't know that…." Booth leaned in and kissed Brennan's cheek before he shut her door and went around to the driver's side.

"Bones she'll be fine…"

"I know. Can we go to the lab now? I have a lot of work to do."

"Yes ma'am." Brennan rolled her eyes as Booth headed to the lab.

Once she got to the lab Brennan headed to limbo and passed the time until Booth came to get her for lunch. After lunch the remaining few hours flew by and before Brennan knew it she and Booth were in line waiting for Christine to get out of school.

"I hope Christine had a good day.

"We'll soon find out." Booth nodded towards the school and got out to meet Christine by the flag pole.

"Hey Noodle."

"Hi Daddy. Did mommy come too?"

"Yep, she's waiting in the SUV." Booth took Christine's backpack and lunchbox and helped her into her booster seat.

"Mommy I didn't like it…"

Brennan turned in her seat. "Why not?"

"It was boring, Mrs. Petit had us count to ten, I can count higher than that. Plus I know all my letters and I can write my name! and I'm learning how to read remember ! I color in the lines too!"

"I know sweetheart, daddy and I are very proud of you."Brennan smiled, "you're dad and I need to talk about it and then talk to your teacher, but we might be able to put you in first grade; it won't be so boring. Your friends won't be in class with you though."

"That's okay, nobody is now anyway. The kid who sits across from me cried until he threw up! It was gross."

"I bet it was."

"I missed you and daddy, but I didn't cry or throw up!"

"That's good, baby. Daddy and I missed you too, very much…" Booth grinned at Brennan and squeezed her hand.

"Who wants pizza and ice cream for dinner?"

"I do, daddy…"

"Let's go then."

By the middle of the week Christine had been tested and was set to begin first grade on Monday.

A/N: This one was really fun to write I enjoyed writing Christine's firsts.

Yes my kindergarten teacher was Mrs. Petit and the kid across from me did throw up from crying too much on the first day….

PS I think I'm going to write a chapter of 'sometimes waking up is hard to do next. I don't know when I'll get it done to post moving is coming up fast…. then after I'm settled I plan to write 'better circumstances till I finish it. Got some thinking to do on that one ….